Nightwing was believed to have died in the pages of the Forever Evil event series, but will instead return in a new role.

Writer and former CIA counterterrorism operations officer King said that the series was an opportunity for Batman's sidekick "to take off the mask and step out on his own in a world where he's not simply being another hero like the hero he grew up with".

"He's doing something that's going to cause pain to his friends and family, but he believes in the cause," King told USA Today. "That tension between having to do something good but having the cost of it being pain to his family, it drives him a little crazy."

Grayson will become a member of Spyral, the international spy organization first introduced in Grant Morrison's Batman Incorporated.